Despite all the craziness going on at the federal level, today? Was a good day.

There was a fire drill at 10 in the morning. I looked around the playfield, and saw that over 80% of my K-8 school was wearing purple today, taking a stand against homophobic bullying. Including every. single. member of the staff.

The credit goes to the awesome 11-14 year olds in our GSA. They prepared announcements and posters, went into every single classroom to explain the purpose of Spirit Day in age-appropriate language, put it out in the family bulletin, and even hand-colored purple Name Badges for people who wanted to participate but didn't have any purple, or had forgotten.

I saw a 12-year old girl who was handing out those badges take a break to speak to a 5'11 football player who answered, "No way!" when she asked if he wanted one, to say, "Hey, you don't have to. But here's why I'm wearing purple today..." When I saw him in class later, he was wearing a badge.

I've got tears in my eyes. Yeah. I love my school. And it was a very good day.

And, what I meant to add, but didn't because of my itchy posty finger, is that this is the kind of thing that makes me love being a teacher--getting to see young people marshal their energy, getting to share in that sparkiness and bravery and ability to change and grow, getting to see what's possible. It's those moments like the ones you described here that make me hopeful and occasionally make me bounce in class with joy. It's pretty cliched, I guess, to say that, but it's very true for me, nonetheless.

As teachers, we are terrifically privileged to get to be a part of that, I think.